Two women, one pregnant, shot to death in car in Kansas City

Kansas City, Mo.  Police say two women, one seven months pregnant, died in a drug-related shooting when someone fired 10 to 15 shots into their parked car on a midtown Kansas City street.

Police said Friday that Ashley M. Tyler-Stewart, 21, and her passenger, Alisa R. Winrow, 19, were killed, as was the male fetus Tyler-Stewart was carrying. Relatives said the women had been best friends since childhood.

Because the pregnancy had reached the seven-month mark, the gunman could be charged with an additional count of murder for the fetus' death.

Police Capt. Donna Greenfield said the women were sitting in the car about 8:30 p.m. Thursday when a man approached and started shooting. A witness said he heard about nine gunshots.

Tyler-Stewart, who was in the driver's seat, was conscious when police arrived but died at a hospital.

Illegal drugs were in the car, and Tyler-Stewart had crack cocaine in her possession, police said.

Greenfield said the gunman jumped into a nearby car, driven by another man, and got away.

Relatives said the baby died after being delivered just 45 minutes after the shooting. Hospital workers took pictures of him and made prints of his hand and foot.

Tyler-Stewart had yet to choose a name for her son, relatives said.

"He was a beautiful baby," said her uncle, Anthony Tyler. "He had these nice, big hands."

Tyler-Stewart's mother, Penny Tyler, also died violently. In 2000, mushroom foragers found her body on the banks of the Kansas River near De Soto.

Anthony Tyler said his niece also had a 1-year-old son. Relatives said she and her husband had recently separated and that she had stopped working at a nursing home once her pregnancy began to near term.

Anthony Tyler said the women grew up next door to each other.

"They went to the mall together. They got their ears pierced together. They got little tattoos together," he said.

Winrow's relatives said they believed she was an innocent bystander. She had just gotten off work Thursday from one of her two jobs, at an inventory service firm.

"We love her and we miss her," said her cousin, Celia Beasley. "Whoever did this needs to be caught."